2015 was an excellent year for audiophile-class gear. New products are more affordable and more feature-laden than ever before. Here, in no particular order, are our top ten favorite new audio products for 2015:

The second annual Southern California version of T.H.E (The Home Entertainment) Show was a major success by all accounts. T.H.E. Show also takes place in Las Vegas in January during CES. Last year, many in the high-end audio world were stunned at the overwhelming response to the first event, with 6000 attendees and hundreds of exhibitors. Press coverage was extensive and many proclaimed it rivaled numerous other established shows in general enthusiasm, attendance, and exhibitor quality. This year, things were even bigger and better. In addition to the Hilton, a second hotel was added to accommodate the additional interest from exhibitors. 9000 attendees were expected this year and the final tally has yet to be published. One thing is certain; the event's quality was superb, with most of the top echelon manufacturers and distributors on ...

Las Vegas was yet again host to CES, where hundreds of industry folks, journalists, and just plain revelers converged to see the latest trends in technology, communications, entertainment, and lifestyle products. Every major manufacturer and media company was exhibiting, and there were wonders to behold. Aside from the massive Las Vegas convention center, the show was spread across half a dozen hotels as well. Trying to cover it all is an exercise in futility. I focused my attention on high end audio, and even then I fell short of seeing every exhibit. I spent most of my time in the Venetian, where the bulk of high performance audio products were displayed. There was everything from budget minded micro systems to state of the art, over the top, large scale rigs. There were many new products in the digital ...

It's been over a decade since Napster changed the music industry forever. Or rather, since broadband Internet, faster computers, ever growing hard drive sizes, and new compression algorithms (like the mp3) allowed every day folks to share music around the world almost instantly. In the years that followed, a little computer company called Apple -- maybe you've heard of it? -- became the world's largest music distributor, and there's an entire generation of new music lovers who have never purchased a physical copy of an album. And with newer streaming services, some people may elect never to purchase music again; instead choosing to rent access to a library for a monthly fee.Since Swedish streaming service, Spotify, recently debut here in the United States (after signing up over 10 million users in Europe), I thought it would be fun to do ...

In this week's episode of Share Your Setup, we have High-Def Digest and AVRev reader Brian Hoyt and his home basement cinema, called Hoyt's Cinema. This made me smile because, as some of our East Coast readers may recall, Hoyts Cinemas used to be a regional theatre chain until about ten years ago when their remaining locations were purchased by Regal. I had the pleasure (and sometimes misfortune) of slinging popcorn behind the concession stand of many a Hoyts Cinema locales in Connecticut and Massachusetts during high school and college. Seeing the name again brings back fond memories of freshly popped corn, unlimited free movies, melting butter-esc toping, and…the abject terror of facing down a grouchy, exhausted Mother who took all of her kids and their friends to the movies on a rainy summer day…where was I? Oh yes, Brian ...